


Forever Ever After

by MissDrarryDawn



Series: Patched Ever Afters [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-10-27 19:57:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20766089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissDrarryDawn/pseuds/MissDrarryDawn
Summary: Harry Potter is granted a second chance.He has a lot of explaining to do.//Completed//Word count: 2.8k





	Forever Ever After

**Author's Note:**

  * For [miniminis_ri](https://archiveofourown.org/users/miniminis_ri/gifts), [Cecithewitchbitch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cecithewitchbitch/gifts).

> these two would have had my head unless i fixed the mess i made. another important note: i'm working on the prompts both of you gals gave me, so this is a short work to fill the space between posting those prompts! thank yall so much though for your support!

Harry felt it.

Felt the moment his heart stopped.

Felt the shudder of his last breath leave him, his mind blacking as his body slumped against the blonde boy he was holding onto in his final moments.

Then, he opened his green eyes, and was faced with a blearing white. He sat up, looking around. He was in the same place as before, though this time it seemed...different. The air crackled with ancient magic, the depths of which he couldn't understand. Strangely enough, the comforting ebb of his own magic through his body was gone, as if it had never been there to begin with. As if he had never come in contact with it. For the briefest of moments, he felt 11 again, helplessly locked in a cupboard, alone and powerless. His memories were fuzzy. Harry wasn't afraid though, the soft lull of the magic around him soothing away his nerves. It was cold, yet not exceedingly so. He took a few steps forward, staring around the white space that stretched endlessly around him. A faint melody drifted from somewhere, it was cathartic. He followed it instinctively, feet carrying him of their own accord. 

Then, a voice. A soft, quiet hush. Harry couldn't tell if it was male or female.

"Harry Potter." It spoke. "Hello."

The raven was, well, stumped. Was this..uhh, _God_, talking to him? Some kind of mandatory introduction before he's carded off to either Heaven or Hell, wherever he might end up?

"Hi?" Harry squeaked, unsure where to look exactly, for it felt as if the ethereal voice was swathed over him from all sides. It chuckled:

"Even in death, you're still but a boy." 

Harry furrowed his brows. What in Merlin's name--

"Ah, but we expected no less." 

_We?_ There were more of..whatever this voice belonged to?

"Ever humbled, hopeful as a child would be, even when you faced peril. Such peril, such shame."

Harry swallowed and nodded, though he had no idea what he was agreeing with or talking to for that matter.

"We granted you 3 hours." 

Harry shoved his hands into his pockets, unsure of whether or not he was supposed to reply.

"And you used them not for yourself, but for others."

Well, that wasn't entirely true, the raven mused. He _did_ kiss Draco at the end, he supposed he'd used that purely for himself.

"Not many others have done as you have. Knowing they had limited time, they abandoned themselves to fervent endeavors, fulfilling their own lost wishes, before their minutes were up."

There was a pregnant pause.

"Yet you..you rushed to the aid of the world in your final moments."

Harry was starting to feel a bit flushed. He never did like such praise.

"A noble heart." It spoke again. "A brave mind." The words were slow, deliberate. "A reckless will." 

"Okay? Thanks? Uh, I'm really sorry to interrupt but--now what?" Harry spoke, pulling a hand out of his pocket to readjust his glasses. He didn't see the point of this tirade, though he felt as if he ought to. Another long, translucent chuckle.

"We have been thinking. The world needs you more than you might imagine. A certain boy needs you more than you might imagine. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to bend the rules of the universe once more."

Harry was floored. The damn rules always seemed to be bending around him.

"What do you mean?" He asked, though not sure he really wanted to know anymore.

"You will be granted a second chance at life. A life of calm and peace, as opposed to the danger and chaos of your previous one."

The boy gaped, in full disbelief. Was he going to come back to life?

"You've deserved as much for all the sacrifices you've given up to protect those you loved. It is your turn to be loved too."

_Shit._ Well, uh, right. A second chance.

"Do not waste this opportunity on petty pretenses and standards. Do not waste it on hesitation. You must understand how much of an aberration this is."

"Yes, yes I know, I--thank you, I'm grateful definitely, I've just never really done this before-" Harry chokes up, realizing how stupid that sounded. A final chuckle echoed, before the ground opened beneath Harry's feet, and he started to fall...

..Back into his own body.

He gasped and spluttered, finding himself in a dark, tight space while his mind spun. He just came back to fucking life. He found himself more surprised than he should have been. Harry seemed privy to these occurrences, after all. 

Right.

He was alive.

Good.

Now, where the hell was he?

He felt around the space, feeling smooth wood beneath his fingertips. He discerned wood above him as well, and his heart sunk as the cold realization struck him:

He was in a _casket_.

He was buried.

Merlin to fucking Christ.

His friends already buried him. He felt choked up by emotions. He couldn't imagine how they might feel now. The raven groped his clothes for his wand, thanking his lucky stars it was wizard tradition to bury the dead with their wands. Right. How would he get out of here? He didn't know how deep he was buried, and it dawned on him that there was a limited amount of spells he could use with the limited knowledge he had. 

In the end, he opted to blow his own grave up. Seemed as good an option as any really.

Harry took a deep breath, and screwed his eyes shut tightly. He pressed his wand to the roof of the casket, and whispered the incantation:

_"Reducto."_

An explosion burst, flinging him sideways as the wood splintered and cracked around him, mounds of dirt and earth blowing upwards, light pouring over him scathingly, before he felt the earth start to trickle back into what was left of the casket. Harry quickly sat up, coughing a few times, before opening his eyes. _Merlin they buried him deep_.

He rolled his shoulders, and stood up on shaky legs, earth pooling around him while a light breeze swayed from above. He took a deep breath and pushed his wand into his jeans, grabbing onto the sides of the deep hole, hands digging into the dirt. He was quite literally climbing out of his own grave, and he felt an odd mix of mild horror and admiration. 

After a while of slipping and struggling, he grappled onto the top lip of the hole, and hoisted himself up with his elbows, flinging a leg up, and finally rolling onto the ground. He was dirty and covered in dust and earth head to toe, but he'd fucking made it. 

Slowly, he sat up, noting how everyone was staring at him with evident terror on their poor faces. It would have been funny if it wasn't so sad. Must not have been long since they buried him then, since his friends were still loitering around. With a shudder, Harry decided to speak, to try to break the heavy silence:

"Did you have to bury me so bloody _deep_?" 

He ran a hand through his shaggy hair, shaking out little rocks and pebbles out of it, before turning to look at the upended gravestone laying a few feet away. He felt a twinge of regret and sorrow upon seeing it. He couldn't forget he really _was_ dead for awhile, no matter how short it was.

"H-Harry?" The raven looked up at the broken whisper. It was Hermione who'd first collected herself enough to speak. Of course. He pushed his glasses up and stood, facing her. His eyes quickly scanned over everyone, lastly landing on Draco, who looked the worst out of all. His eyes were red and wide as he stared at Harry in complete disbelief. Finally, Harry looked back at his best friend.

"Mione." He spoke softly.

"How, you--you were--" She was muttering, for the first time losing her eloquence, all her knowledge and books going against his standing in front of her. People who_ die_, stay_ dead._ Yet, Harry was right _there_.

"I spoke with..well, I think it was _God_, or well, Gods, actually, I'm not really sure what it was I talked to, but they gave me a second chance, to live." Harry muttered, recalling the soft white space and calm haze he was enveloped in with some difficulty. 

She stood rooted to her spot for a few long beats, before swallowing thickly, giving him a curt nod.

"Right. Of course, I shouldn't be surprised really." Her voice cracked. "_Jesus Christ _Harry.." A dry sob escaped her, and Harry took a tentative step towards her, arms going to embrace her. Hermione let him, and Harry held her. His heart broke. They all thought he'd _died._ That they'd never see him again. 

After a moment, his friend sunk into his arms, tears falling down her face. Harry looked at everyone again. Still stunned into a thick silence. Hermione stepped away after awhile, giving him a weak smile.

He wasn't sure what to do next, who to talk to. His eyes automatically fell on Draco, and his breath stopped. Merlin, he'd kissed him, he'd told him, he really thought he would never get the chance to say it, and now he was back, and at a loss for words.

What _do_ you say to the person whose arms you died in? 

No words could express how sorry Harry was for putting everyone through that, but especially Draco. He hesitated even going any closer to the blonde, terrified to scare him off or insult him in some way. 

_Do not waste this opportunity on petty pretenses and standards. Do not waste it on hesitation._

_ **Do not waste it on hesitation.** _

Those words seemed so very applicable to this situation, as if the speaker had known, all this time, what would happen.

Harry supposed they would, if they were really some sort of deity.

So, bracing himself, he walked towards Draco, whose eyes seemed to widen impossibly more upon realizing this. Harry took a step at a time, never breaking the eye contact, wanting to assure the blonde he had really come back.

"Draco." He breathed into the space between them when he'd come close enough. He could see the broken expression on the other's face up this close.

"You _died_." The blonde trembled. Harry was silent, waiting for him to continue. He was sure there was more to be said, and he was right.

"You died in my fucking arms Potter--" Draco choked out, shoulders starting to shake. "You fucking _died--_" 

Harry bit his lip, tempted to look away, but he forced himself not to do so. He wished to reach out for Draco, but forced his arms to remain limp by his sides.

"I know. I was given a second chance. I'm back." He spoke slowly, quietly enough so that only the blonde would hear him.

"I don't fucking care, you fucking _died_\--" A wave of tears flooded the silver eyes and Draco shook his head, gritting his teeth. "You died on me you bastard--" His voice gave out again. 

Harry just watched him regretfully. What he did was rash, but he felt it necessary, seeing as he didn't think he'd ever be returning to this world.

"How could you fucking do that to me?" A tear slipped, but Draco was too angry to care. "How the fuck _dare_ you?" 

"I'm back." Harry muttered, hoping beyond hope that Draco would calm down.

"I hate you Potter. I fucking hate you _so much_. You didn't have a fucking pulse, your heart wasn't--it wasn't beating!" His voice cracked.

Harry slowly reached for Draco's wrist, feeling the boy tense. He pressed the blonde's palm flat over his chest, his heart, laying his own hand over the pale one.

"It's beating. It's beating now. I'm here." Harry spoke, seeing something flitter amok the anger in the Slytherin's eyes. He felt Draco press his palm more firmly over Harry's chest, as if wanting to be sure, absolutely _certain_ that Harry was alive indeed. Harry let him do whatever he needed, letting his own hand drop away.

The pale hand suddenly curled into a fist, bunching up Harry's shirt, and pushed him away. The raven stumbled a few steps back, Draco's hand still fisted in his shirt, despite the blonde having shoved him away.

"I fucking _despise_ you." It was hissed, gritted out, and Harry took it silently. He deserved such treatment, after all. What he'd done was selfish, and inexcusable _now_ that he was given a second chance at life.

"I've earned it." Harry nodded, finally looking away from Draco's intense gaze. "I'm sorry."

"Damn right you earned this Potter. You're _sorry_? That's rich! You fucking died on me, you _died_ on me--" He repeated that over and over, unable to push past it. "And now you're fucking standing here, with the _nerve_ to even speak to me." 

Harry stopped breathing, staring at his musty sneakers. 

"I'm sorry I did that to you Draco. I had three hours to fulfill the prophecy, to say what I had to say before.." The raven trailed off. 

"I don't give a damn Potter. I don't give a bloody damn about what you had or didn't have to do. I was so sure I'd fucking lost you forever and you can't just fucking stand here now, expecting things to be okay--"

"You didn't lose me." Harry cut in, voice trembling. He dared look up again, Draco's bloodless face steadily depleting of his fury. It was replaced by an emotion Harry couldn't decipher. Something soft yet harsh at the same time.

His hand fell away from Harry's shirt, and he took a step closer, surprising Harry. His eyes were unwavering, but he was still trembling.

"I fucking hate you. Don't ever fucking leave me like that again." Draco's voice was soft, crestfallen. Harry dared to smile, his hand cupping Draco's cheek gently.

"I'm not going anywhere Draco. Never again." He assured, the blonde tilting his head into Harry's palm ever so slightly. Harry could see the taller boy's eyes flood with tears again, and his own heart clenched. This wasn't fair towards him, Harry knew. After another silent moment, Draco's composure seemed to snap, and he began to sob. The raven bit his lip and pulled him into a hug, holding him tightly, the blonde head dipping into the crook of Harry's neck. Harry felt the cold tears soak his skin, but he didn't care. His hands were locked around Draco, rubbing circles into it off their own accord, trying to soothe the poor wrecked boy.

"Hey, it's okay, come on, it's okay, I'm here, I'm alive, shh.." Harry whispered into Draco's hair softly, though nothing he did eased away the sobs. In the end, the raven fell silent, just holding Draco tightly until he'd calmed down.

It took awhile for that to happen, for his shaking to subside, but Harry exhaled a breath of relief when he realized Draco had settled down. The blonde pulled away, staring over Harry's shoulder somewhere.

"Only _you_, would think it would be a good idea, to tell someone you _love_ them, then _die_ in their arms." Draco exhaled finally, voice drawn out and languid.

Harry had to smile bashfully at that.

"Yes, well, I'm not known for being smart."

"No, no you aren't. You're known for being the bane of my existence." Draco informed him, finally relaxed from the taut string he'd been wound up as earlier.

"Among other things." Harry agreed, breathing deeply. He hadn't let go of Draco yet, but Draco still hadn't complained, so Harry reckoned it was alright for the time being.

"You didn't even give me long enough to tell you what _I_ think about it." A small, nearly invisible pout graced his lips, and Harry chuckled. Draco hadn't met his eyes yet, but that was fine.

"But I did come back to hear it." He replied, tilting his head sideways. "Lay it on me." 

A mirthless smile came over Draco, and he shook his head with a scoff, finally moving to lock eyes with Harry.

"_I_ think, that you're a hideous idiot, incredibly stupid and downright, just a right fool." 

Harry couldn't argue with any of those points, much as he wanted to.

"I _also_ think, that you should kiss me again, minus dying." 

_Oh. That was an unexpected jump from the previous sentence. Quite a twist._

Harry wouldn't have expected anything less from the insufferable blonde git however. He didn't need telling twice though, so he leaned in and connected their lips.

Harry Potter is alive.

The Boy Who Lived is now The Boy Who Lived Twice.

Finally here, to stay.

~

_Fin._


End file.
